EA's College Football Games Lose the SEC Branding

UPDATE: The Big Ten and Pac-12 have joined the SEC in announcing that they will not license their trademarks to EA Sports' next college football game.

Original story follows...

On the heels of losing the NCAA branding, EA Sports' line of college football games will also no longer feature anything related to the Southeastern Conference, it was announced today.

The SEC has decided to stop licensing its trademark for use in what has been, up until now, the NCAA Football series, reports ESPN. While the individual members of the SEC remain free to license themselves for inclusion in future games, any mention of the SEC or the SEC Championship will not be allowed.

"Each school makes its own individual decision regarding whether or not to license their trademarks for use in the EA Sports game(s)," an SEC statement reads. "The Southeastern Conference has chosen not to do so moving forward."

This could be considered a major blow for the game considering an SEC team has won the last seven BCS National Championship Games, and nine of the first 15.

Last month, amid an ongoing lawsuit alleging that the likenesses of student athletes were used in EA games without the players being paid, the NCAA announced it would not be renewing its contract with EA Sports. This hasn't put an end to the company's NCAA Football series; instead, future games will simply not use the NCAA's name or its trademarks.

EA Sports has already signed a new, three-year deal with the College Licensing Company that ensures upwards of 150 colleges, conferences, and bowl games will be included in its next few college football games. Among those schools are some that belong to the SEC, though it remains to be seen how their inclusion will be handled and if the SEC's decision today will impact decisions by the remaining schools -- and, indeed, other conferences who have yet to sign -- to continue working with EA Sports.

If there was any doubt the SEC's decision was motivated at least in part by the player likeness lawsuit, today's statement makes that clear when it states, "Neither the SEC, its member universities, nor the NCAA have ever licensed the right to use the name or likeness of any student to EA Sports."

Will the loss of things like the NCAA and SEC branding have any effect on your interest in future college football games, or do you only care that the various schools themselves are included? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Chris Pereira is a freelance writer who will never be fully invested in college football while the BCS still exists. Check out what he's saying on Twitter and follow him on IGN.